David Ford

Senior Managing Partner, Gartner

David Ford

Senior Managing Partner, Gartner

Biography

David Ford is a Senior Managing Partner with expertise in Go-to-Market strategies, digital business, and M&A diligence within Gartner Consulting. He has more than 15 years of experience working on a variety of internal and external business, sales, marketing and operational strategies in industries ranging from software, infrastructure, and service providers to manufacturing, healthcare, and energy. David leads Gartner’s M&A diligence practice. He also sits on the board of directors of FAFCO, Inc., a manufacturer of polymer heat exchangers. David’s recent experience includes:

For a Fortune 100 technology company — Built a digital workplace forecast.
For a Fortune 100 technology company — Assessed the digital business analytics strategy via a forecast model, competitive landscape assessment, and voice of the customer analysis.
For a Fortune 100 technology company — Developed an Internet of Things (IoT) jobs forecast with associated recommendations for supporting training curriculum to help individuals build digital job skills
For a Fortune 100 service provider — Built a global cloud forecast that included customer size and vertical detail.
For a Fortune 100 service provider — Evaluated the global digital business strategy.
For a leading private equity firm — Assessed 150 North American Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) for potential investment.
For a leading private equity firm — Evaluated a service provider in the third party maintenance and support market.
For a leading private equity firm — Evaluated an ISV in the transportation management space.
For a leading private equity firm — Evaluated an ISV in the eCommerce space.
For a Fortune 500 technology company — Evaluated eCommerce solution positioning, incl. payment model impact on value proposition.
For a Fortune 100 technology company — Evaluated the impact of Cloud on the Software as a Service (SaaS)/Platform as a Service (PaaS) and associated professional services strategy.
For a Fortune 100 technology company — Evaluated the impact of Cloud on the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) SaaS delivery model and associated partner ecosystem.
For a Fortune 500 technology company — Developed an IT strategy accounting for convergence of traditional IT and operating technology.
For a Fortune 500 technology company — Helped develop a software development strategy that included org design, role requirements & job descriptions, and hiring strategies.

Mr. Ford holds a bachelor of science in English literature from the University of California Santa Barbara, a master of arts in English literature working on Shakespeare from New York University, and a master of business administration with a strategy focus from the Peter Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University, where he graduated beta gamma sigma.